Bruce Ashford, ein junger Kulturtheologe vom Southeastern Baptist Seminary, fasst in einem Interview zu seinem neuen Buch "Square Inch: An Introduction to Cultural Engagement for Christians" vier Sichten auf die Kultur zusammen:
One view (often associated with manualist Thomists) is “grace above nature.” In this view, God’s gracious salvation is something that adds to, and fulfills, the natural realm.
Another view (often associated with certain Anabaptists and Pietists) is “grace against nature.” In this view, the Fall corrupted the natural world ontologically in such a manner that God’s salvation causes Christians to withdraw from the world and live a Christian life separate from it.
A third view (associated with Luther and some Reformed evangelicals) is “grace alongside of nature.” In this view, the natural realm and the realm of grace each have their own integrity, existing alongside of one another.
A fourth view, and the one I prefer, is “grace renews and restores nature.” This view is associated with Abraham Kuyper and Herman Bavinck and, I think, is the best way to describe the views of Irenaeus and Augustine. In this view, sin does not have the power to corrupt the natural realm structurally. Instead, it corrupts the natural realm directionally. God’s still-good-structurally creation is misdirected toward false gods and idols. When Christians receive God’s grace in salvation, they are liberated from their idolatry, liberated to shape their cultural activities toward Christ rather than toward false gods and idols. Their cultural activity is redirective.
